She was a longshot to someday help her basketball team win on its crosstown rivals home court. Who would have thought that she would still be playing her senior year, after all those trips to the doctors office?

Consider that Lakes Amanda Smith had ACL surgery.

And then a second knee operation.

And then, last February, a third.

Its hard to keep track (of the surgeries), said Smith, a three-year varsity player whos had both her left and right ACLs repaired, as well as her right meniscus. She wears a bulky brace on her left knee.

Shes bionic now, Eagles coach Pete Schneider joked.

The smile Smith flashed on Antiochs court Tuesday night was earned.

The longshot hit a couple of long shots early in the third quarter to spark a comeback and, in the end, it was the point guards free throws that helped Lakes edge the host Sequoits 38-34 in a North Suburban Prairie Division rematch.

The win allowed Lakes (12-10, 7-2), which trailed by 12 points after one quarter, to avenge a 30-28 loss on Dec. 8 and gave the Eagles their first win ever at Antioch.

Its very exciting, Smith said after hitting 3 free throws in the final 33 seconds and scoring 5 of her game-high 13 points in the fourth quarter. It feels really good.

Schneider has believed for a long time that he has one of the best point guards in the conference in Smith.

She doesnt get flustered, Schneider said. And she plays every minute. We have a hard time getting her off the floor for a couple of minutes here or there.

Antioch (13-8, 5-3), which lost for the fourth time in five games, led 23-16 at the half and was up 26-16 after Paige Gallimore (10 points) scored on a drive 30 seconds into the second half. But then Smith, who missed all 7 of her shots in the opening half, heated up. She drained a midrange jumper and then back-to-back 3-pointers, from either wing. Her 3 baskets in as many attempts pulled the Eagles within 26-24.

We lost track of her, Antioch coach Tim Borries said. Good players step up and make those shots.

Three points by Terese McMahon and a drive by Nicole Mogged capped a 13-0 run. It was a 31-31 game after three quarters.

Lately, weve been talking about, when youre down, the will to win, Smith said. There was no way we were going to lose this game. I wasnt going to stop shooting. I think we all came out pretty tough in the second half, knowing that we were down. We knew we had to get back in it.

Smith scored in the opening minute of the fourth, Kelsey Kohler put home a miss and Lakes had the lead for good. The Eagles outscored Antioch 7-3 in the fourth, limiting the hosts to 3 free throws. The Eagles surrendered only 18 points in the final three quarters.

As a team, we really stepped up and shut them down at the end, Smith said. In the first half, they got more shots than we wanted. The second half, we cut them off and kept them from driving in the middle.

Abbi McIlhany scored 9 of her team-high 11 points, including a 3-pointer, in the first quarter in helping Antioch build a 16-4 lead.

We didnt do a very good job of executing our offense (in the second half), Borries said. Pete wanted us to speed up and we sped up, but we werent disciplined enough to slow down right before setting up the offense. So what happens? We force things.

Kohler added 8 points coming off the bench. The juniors health has kept her off the court for most of the season.

She got the flu, then she had a bad cold and finally they took her tonsils out, Schneider said. For 2½ weeks, they wouldnt let her do anything. Shes going to help us a lot down the stretch.

Before the varsity game, there was a scary moment when Lakes freshman Adrianna Mendoza got hurt. She was taken to the hospital on a backboard.

Though it was a big win, Schneider said, our thoughts and prayers are with Adrianna Mendoza.